“Here in Kosovo, nearly twenty years have passed since the Security Council called for the provision of conditions for a peaceful and normal life for all inhabitants. However, the narratives of the conflict that caused the lack of trust, continue to incite mutual doubts and tensions among ethnic groups.

“Economic, social, cultural and political life remains largely based on identities, and the separation line has caused many people to remain uninvolved in shaping of a common future,” UNMIK Head Zahir Tanin said in Pristina, at the reception UN Kosovo Trust Building Forum, KoSSev portal reports.

“Building trust is at the very center of the United Nations Integrated Strategic Framework for Kosovo and this is our priority in funding of the programmatic activities,” SRSG Tanin said in a welcoming address in front of more than a hundred participants in the initiative launched by UNMIK this year.

At a reception at the Emerald Hotel on Thursday, a report about the work of more than 120 participants from the previous meeting in May in Ljubljana was presented. Members of all ethnic communities, municipal leaders and administrations, representatives of the civil society, the media and religious communities worked in the plenary sessions and expert groups to adopt and develop recommendations in the areas of good governance, access to justice, inter-religious trust building, economic empowerment and environment, media and education.

According to SRSG Tanin, out of 134 recommendations from this forum, which are presented in a trilingual report, 102 are already being worked on.

Apart from developing specific recommendations in six areas with the aim to not only build trust among ethnic communities, but also to improve the quality of life and services at the previous meeting in Ljubljana, there have been identified practical ways so that citizens would be actively engaged on the ground and felt as active participants in their communities. UNMIK will continue to support these activities on the ground in the coming months.

UNMIK has allocated significant funds for the coming period in order to bring most of these recommendations into effect, SRSG Tanin said. UNMIK is currently in the decision-making phase for number of the submitted project proposals, but also preparations for the implementation of projects that have already started since the meeting in Ljubljana. The areas that were specifically highlighted are the areas for the improvement of the judiciary, the position of women and youth.

During the event, two documentary films were also played/shown, one about the meeting in Ljubljana and the other about women entrepreneurship initiatives in which Albanian and Serbian women successfully work, and the young rock group “Electra Heart” from the Mitrovica Rock school, which has been gathering musicians from all communities for years, also played a couple of their songs, KoSSev portal reported.